re: Re-watching the hit on Ridley last night is brutal(Posted by BobBoucher on 1/21/13 at 12:50 pm to Teddy Ruxpin)

quote:Natural instinct if you mean RBs start turning themselves into missiles routinely at a young age that it becomes second nature upon impact then I agree

some guys are better at avoiding direct hits than others. He shifts his shoulder/head a few inches either way and its a glancing blow.... but im sure its hard to fight that instinct to brace for impact.

quote:Natural instinct if you mean RBs start turning themselves into missiles routinely at a young age that it becomes second nature upon impact then I agree.

Right...it's a terrible habit, and unfortunately because of the stupid way the rules are interpreted basically allow offensive players to lead with their head while defensive players better HOPE their head doesn't accidentally make contact with his helmet during the collision.

Take this run by Trent Richardson. It's an extremely powerful hit, but he basically spears the defender who actually goes in without leading with his head. No flag despite the fact Richardson de-helmeted the guy when the crown of his lid rammed the defender in the jaw. Had the hit gone in reverse and the defender had hit Richardson in the jaw with the crown of his helmet, the guy would have been flagged and then fined.

As for Ridley, he didn't so much lead with his head as ducked it down and he got popped...but much the same way defenders are having to learn not to go in with their face at the ground, so must offensive guys. A good first step would be flagging BOTH sides for doing this if they're honest about it being a safety issue. Thankfully Ridley will be ok...I was really worried there for a minute...

re: Re-watching the hit on Ridley last night is brutal(Posted by Tigercoop40 on 1/21/13 at 3:55 pm to Teddy Ruxpin)

quote:Not dropping his head would have been a great choice to make.

This.

This is what makes the helmet to helmet hits dangerous. And so many offensive players drop their head causing the injury. A majority of helmet to helmet hits occur because the offensive player drops their head.

re: Re-watching the hit on Ridley last night is brutal(Posted by lsueddie18 on 1/21/13 at 5:50 pm to JBeam)

I was fairly amazed that a "helmet to helmet" penalty was not called. It was one of the clearest helmet to helmet hits I've seen in a while, but not even any mention by the talking heads. Nothing. Oh well. Get well Ridley!

re: Re-watching the hit on Ridley last night is brutal(Posted by Tigercoop40 on 1/21/13 at 5:59 pm to lsueddie18)

quote:I was fairly amazed that a "helmet to helmet" penalty was not called. It was one of the clearest helmet to helmet hits I've seen in a while, but not even any mention by the talking heads. Nothing. Oh well. Get well Ridley!

Helmet to helmet on who? I'm a Patriot and LSU fan.. And if anyone initiated the contact with the helmet it was Ridley. No way you can throw helmet to helmet hit on a RB ducking his head into a LB. At least there shouldn't be.